Here's a great video on using the Premack Principle for fence fighting. Excellent illustration of the clicker in action (and a cute bully to boot!). Granted, the dog in question doesn't appear to want to EAT the dog on the other side of the fence, but it is still a great video. I am trying to apply this to Murphy. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yOJ4s0cgCY

whats the deal with clicker training? Do I need to go to a class to learn it?

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

I learned clicker training from Erin... There's nothing particularly special about the clicker itself...it is just makes a unique, consistent sound that marks the behavior you want repeated. The dog learns that click=treat and will repeat the behavior that is getting him treats. (Plus clickers are cheap and easy to carry). Instead of pushing your dog's butt down to the ground to get him to sit, for example, you teach the dog what the clicker means (click, treat...click, treat) then eventually click when the dog sits down on his own. He gets a treat. Trying to get another treat, he sits again...and you build the behavior that way. This, of course, is a gross over-simplification, but it is the general idea. It can be slow-going at first, but once the dog becomes clicker-savvy, they often will show a whole range of behaviors trying to figure out what is going to get them a treat. I really like it and have so much fun training. There are many clicker trainers out there, and many good books and resources. Karen Pryor is one of the experts in the area. Her website is http://www.clickertraining.com/ which has some more articles and videos. I'm sure Erin and others have a lot more, but that will get you started.

I'm sure that others have differing opinions on how to stop fence fighting...I just wanted to share this video because it explains the principle so well. This is the route I am taking. I try my best to not have them out at the same time as the neighbor's dogs, but the neighbor dogs have access to the door to get out in the yard whenever they want, so working through it is our only practical option. Murphy has always been buddies with their first dog, but they recently added a second 6 year old un-neutered male rescue (both Shiba Inus). The new, second dog is the one that Murphy doesn't like.

Premack is awesome! I've used it to work on Renee's recalls, loose leash walking, and focus during agility and flyball. I couldn't believe it the first time I told her to go sniff and she looked at me like, "no thanks, I'd rather walk right next to you instead". It's a little scary the first time you do it. You should have seen some people's faces when our agility trainer told us to tell the dogs to go explore and just let them go if they ran off in the middle of a sequence. But it really does work.

Hundilein wrote:Premack is awesome! I've used it to work on Renee's recalls, loose leash walking, and focus during agility and flyball. I couldn't believe it the first time I told her to go sniff and she looked at me like, "no thanks, I'd rather walk right next to you instead". It's a little scary the first time you do it. You should have seen some people's faces when our agility trainer told us to tell the dogs to go explore and just let them go if they ran off in the middle of a sequence. But it really does work.

I've used the Premack Principle on my dogs' wildlife chasing...Xander for squirrels, and Score for deer (and my old basset hound for rabbits). Fantastic...I can call them off running critters now, because SOMETIMES they get released to chase. I Premack.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

Hundilein wrote:Premack is awesome! I've used it to work on Renee's recalls, loose leash walking, and focus during agility and flyball. I couldn't believe it the first time I told her to go sniff and she looked at me like, "no thanks, I'd rather walk right next to you instead". It's a little scary the first time you do it. You should have seen some people's faces when our agility trainer told us to tell the dogs to go explore and just let them go if they ran off in the middle of a sequence. But it really does work.

I've used the Premack Principle on my dogs' wildlife chasing...Xander for squirrels, and Score for deer (and my old basset hound for rabbits). Fantastic...I can call them off running critters now, because SOMETIMES they get released to chase. I Premack.

I wish I had a safe place to let Renee chase squirrels. I know it would help so much. There are never any squirrels in the yard here, and I don't have access to a fenced area where squirrels hang out anymore.

I'd just like to point out that if you step back and look at the turn this thread has taken (and out of context) it would seem just a little whacky , like: "what person would want their dog to chase squirrels?"

just wanted to interject that random thought here...

and, I am still interested in clicker training

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07